On Monday 6 June this new sculpture by Cyprien Gaillard was installed in Whitworth Park. Occupying a plinth that has been empty since the Second World War, the Whitworth Park Obelisk is made from recycled brick from demolished terraced houses in Bowes Street, Moss Side, and concrete from the 1960s flats that were on either side of Bonsall Street in Hulme.

The obelisk sits on a 150-year-old plinth, which until the Second World War was home to a statue by George Tinworth called “Christ Blessing the Little Children.” The statue was removed to protect it but unfortunately it never made its way back to the park.

Yes they do and they do tend to go 'missing'. The location of the storage is a bit of a secret but i think its Derby Street off Cheetham Hill road.
I know of about 6 pieces that have been temporarly removed and never reappeared and i am sure there are many more somewhere.
There is lots of 'buck passing' because it is Museums and Libraries who officially are charged with there up keep but it is Direct Works that remove and 'store' them.
It is very difficult to find out where things are and what their status is.
One of the most depressing is the amazing chandeliers at manchester airport that were removed. The airport had a sort of competition and asked people to suggest what to do with them. I wrote a very sarcastic letter along the lines of "put them back you morons". I have know idea where they are or what will happen to them.

Yeah I can't say I particularly like the new Chopin statue.
But what I really don't like about it is that as you walk past it, the thing that really stands out is the huge (relative to the actual plaque) red sign stuck on the front proclaiming that this is here thanks to BRUNTWOOD. It makes the whole thing cheap and if I hadn't bothered to go right up close to read the plaque about Chopin I'd have just thought it was a pointless work dedicated to Bruntwood

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An amateur astronomer has launched a bid to give a statue of cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin a permanent home in Manchester.

Gurbir Singh, author of a book about the Soviet's 1961 visit to Britain, wants the artwork to commemorate the Manchester leg of that trip.

Mr Singh claimed Col Gagarin would have chosen Manchester for the statue.

The artwork, which celebrates the cosmonaut's pioneering 1961 flight, must move from its site near the British Council in London in July 2012.

Col Gagarin made his only visit to the UK in July 1961, two months after becoming the first human to travel into space and orbit the Earth.

He was invited to the country by the leaders of the Manchester-based Amalgamated Union of Foundry Workers, as he had trained as a foundry worker before joining the Soviet military.

Mr Singh said the cosmonaut left London once during his five day visit, spending a day in Manchester and Trafford at the union's headquarters, the Metropolitan Vickers site in Trafford Park and Manchester Town Hall.

He said that it was this day that the Soviet had found most fulfilling.

"When I researched Gagarin's five days in Britain and spoke to many who met and saw him, it became clear that his time with the working people of Manchester was the experience he enjoyed the most," he said.

"If it was up to Gagarin where his statue should be sited, he would choose Manchester."

Col Gagarin was invited to Britain by the Amalgamated Union of Foundry Workers
The statue, a gift from the Russian space agency Roscosmos to the British Council, was unveiled in London on 14 July by Col Gagarin's daughter, Elena Gagarina.

Planning permission for a temporary 12 month siting was granted, which has left the British Council needing to find a permanent home for it by July 2012.

The British Council's Andrea Rose said that Mr Singh's bid was one of four she had received, with the other three being at undisclosed locations.

She said she was "delighted that Manchester has thrown its hat in the ring".

Mr Singh said that a decision on where the statue would be put if his bid was successful had yet to be made, but that possible sites in the city centre and at Trafford Park were being considered.

A decision on the permanent site for the statue will be made by the end of 2011.